Forming a Family
by tt22123
Summary: Harry and Draco are both being abused at home and Snape finds out about both of their home situations. As he rescues the boys from their families will the boys be able to rescue each other from themselves. Severitus story, developing Drarry relationship. Disclaimer; I do not own Harry Potter, unfortunately. TW; Self Harm, Rape, Abuse


"What's HE doing here sir?"

"Draco is here to help me with your remedial lessons. He is accomplished in the art of mind magics, you will not fight with one another, I have an important potion that I need to be brewing."

"But sir-"

"Potter, I need to brew the Wolfsbane for Lupin so he can control the wolf. If you are really so selfish that you will refuse to work with Draco while I brew it you shall have to be the one to explain to him why he didn't get the potion if he hurts anyone. Padfoot for example."

"Yes sir, sorry sir." Snape nodded to signal that he had heard him while waving his hand to get on with it. A somewhat cruel smirk fell onto Draco's lips as he pulled out his wand and cast the required spell.

 _The house elf that had once appeared in his bedroom, punishing himself over something that the child had said. Harry watching as the cake fell on top of the Masons; with a click of Dobby's fingers. The fear that formed as Vernon rounded on him, face almost purple in his rage._

"Dobby was visiting you?!" Harry nodded, slightly unsettled as he remembered the way that Vernon had treated him that night but didn't want that fact to be known. Once again Malfoy cast the spell and was thrown straight back into more memories.

 _Harry sitting up a tree all night while his family laughed at the way that Marge's dog had barricaded him up there, refusing to call the dog back._

 _The Weasley's helping him through the barrier in his first year at Hogwarts. The tender way that Molly had handled the lost and scared child as she herded him along like another of her many children._

 _The vision he had of Mr Weasley being attacked by Nagini while he looked on through the eyes of the snake._

 _The slow press of a blade into his arm. The red appearing amongst a myriad of scars._

"What was that Potter?"

"Nothing, continue," Harry stated through gritted teeth as he begged Malfoy to ignore what he had seen. This time Draco hesitated, an action that was not missed by Snape as he looked up at them.

"Something a problem?"

"No sir," replied Harry before Draco could even register what had been said to them.

"Very well, you heard him. Continue Draco." This prompted the blonde to nod shakily as he cast the spell for a third time, this time Harry fought back and managed to see a few of Draco's memories alongside his own.

 _Fighting the basilisk and Tom Riddle in the chamber of secrets during their second year._

 _A harsh beating from Vernon where he was given the buckle for burning the dinner._

 ** _Curses being flung at Draco from his father when he had done something improper in front of other purebloods._**

 _Detentions spent with Umbridge, the scars slowly being formed as he wrote in his own blood._

 ** _Narcissa smacking a 2-year-old Draco after he had broken a vase, leaving a vivid red hand print on his cheek._**

 _The slow press of a blade into his arm, the red appearing amongst a myriad of scars._

 ** _The threat of being made to take the dark mark against his will to place his parents in the good books with The Dark Lord._**

 ** _Lucius casting the cruciatus curse on Draco after finding him playing with a younger Dobby._**

 _The heavy weight of his uncle settling on top of Harry after his clothes had been torn off. Pressing himself into-_

"STOP! Please, stop. Please." Harry had shouted the first word but quickly his voice turned into a whimper as he pleaded for Draco to stop while moving to the corner of the room and curling in on himself as he sunk to the floor. Snape had been jerked to attention when he heard the boy shout out but his expression quickly morphed into one of confusion as he looked at the smaller teen, his mask slipping. He was about to go and intervene when he stopped himself, he placed a stasis charm on his cauldron and watched as his godson moved slowly over to the other teen. When he heard the quiet sob from Harry he took a step forward but once again found himself stopping. Although this time it was because Draco had whipped his head round and lifted his hand to tell him not to come closer while shaking his head vigorously.

"I'm sorry Harry. I never knew. I'm so sorry. You're safe here. It's just me and Severus here with you." Draco could feel the glare he received at referring to the man by his first name to Harry but ignored the feel of it. "We're at Hogwarts School Harry, no one here is going to hurt you. Will you look at me Harry? I promise that neither of us will hurt you and I'm sorry that we did in the past." Once more Draco felt the heated stare that was being sent his way, this time for the apology, and once more he ignored it in favour of the teen in front of him.

Slowly the raven-haired boy lifted his head and the muted green eyes met those of molten silver. They simply watched the other's reactions for a minute before Harry dropped his eyes away.

"I'm sorry you had to see all of that."

"Shh, shh, shh, don't be. May I?" Draco asked as he signalled towards Harry's arm slowly. After a small hesitation the appendage was extended to him and Draco took his hand first. He ran his thumb slowly over the permanent words etched into the skin there while Harry watched his actions like a hawk, preparing to defend himself should he need to do so. After he had memorised each harsh line left by the quill, and been sickened that on some level the boy was subjected to this because of him, he moved the smaller boy's sleeve up. He made sure that his actions were slow enough to not startle the boy but he also found that the actions were slow to try and protect himself from what he would find there. Once the thick material was out of the way Draco took a sharp intake of breath seeing the silvery scars latticed across his wrist and forearm, disappearing behind the rest of his sleeve, interspersed with raw, red cuts. "I am truly sorry Harry," he whispered as he pulled the sleeve back down before pulling the other into his lap, wrapping his arms tightly around the boy.

Harry subconsciously snuggled closer into the comforting grip after he had relaxed from the shock of the initial contact. Draco caught Snape's eye as he watched the two teenagers interact and sent a sad smile towards the man. He began to move nearer to the students slowly so that he didn't scare the already panicked child in his godson's arms. He crouched down when he noticed Harry tense up at his approach and stayed where he was about a meter and a half away. Instantly Draco started to rub small circles onto his back to comfort him while whispering reassurances.

"It's just Sev. We're not going to hurt you, he's not going to hurt you. You're safe in here Harry. Talk to us, tell him what's going on, you can trust him, and me. How about you let him cast a diagnostic spell and heal what he finds?" Harry shook his head without removing it from where he had hid his face in the crook of Draco's neck.

"Please Pot-Harry. He's right, you will come to no harm here in my rooms. Let me see if there is anything that I need to heal?"

"Why should I trust you?"

"Because if you are in danger, I want to help you."

"But Draco is your godson, is he not?"

"Yes, why?"

"Harry, stop." Draco was almost ready to beg the younger teen to stop talking at that moment.

"You expect me to trust you and let you help and yet you don't even help your own godchild."

"What's he on about Draco?"

"Nothing."

"Draco Lucius Malfoy-"

"I'm sorry Draco."

"You both have an awful lot of explaining to do. Harry, may I perform the diagnostic and heal you if I have to?" Said boy looked up at Draco for support, strange considering that a couple of hours earlier he had hated the teen with everything that he had. The blonde nodded his head once he noticed the other one's gaze.

Harry agreed but still seemed somewhat apprehensive about the whole situation. Apprehension that was not missed by the potions master.

"Want me to show you it on Draco first?" Malfoy was about to protest since there was nothing wrong with him but noticing the way that Harry's eyes seemed to flicker with hope and trust he agreed. He felt the tickle of magic as it washed over him and watched while the parchment appeared in front of Severus. Suddenly the man looked furious which made Harry whimper slightly and push further into Draco's grasp. A potion was summoned and immediately handed to Draco. "To negate any residual effects of the cruciatus. We definitely need to have a discussion in the near future Draco, you will be explaining why you were subjected to that and who by. Now, Harry, may I?" He noticed the way that the teen seemed wary of him still and tried to think of the easiest solution. "What if I teach Draco how to perform the spell quickly and he can do it?" Harry nodded and moved off of Draco's lap so that he could be shown the spell that he would have to do, making sure that he was protected in the corner of the room once more.

He wrapped his arms around his knees and tucked his chin in while watching the other two in slight suspicion.

"Right, I'm going to perform the spell now, okay?" Harry nodded so Draco moved to crouch in front of him, Severus kneeling behind him so he would be able to read the parchment as it appeared. Slowly but surely the length of the scroll grew as the list of various injuries, past and present, grew at the same time. Draco felt close to tears as he read everything that the boy had gone through since a broken collarbone at the age of 3. Once the list was done Draco handed the paper to Severus while moving back to the other teen and placing him in his lap once more, arms circling around the smaller body.

"Harry, will you let me heal you? These are spells that Draco wouldn't be able to do yet. Some of this I can fix with potions but some will have to be spells. I swear on my magic, I will do nothing to hurt you, you can trust me on that." Harry chewed the inside of his lip nervously but nodded all the same, refusing to look the man in the eye but rather intent on watching his actions instead.

"Hey, I'll be right here okay. I'm not going anywhere. I'll look after you. Sev won't hurt you, you know that right?"

"That's what they all say though."

"Right, Harry how about this, Draco can keep his wand trained on me the entire time and if I try and do anything to harm either of you he can do whatever it takes to stop me. Or, he can make an unbreakable vow between us, if I try anything against you, I will immediately lose my magic and die."

"No! No, it's- it's okay."

"Right then, thank you." Snape summoned a variety of different potions and bottles to him as he moved closer to the teen so he was able to reach him. "First of all, this is Murtlap Essence, submerge your entire hand in it, it won't help with the scars but it will help with the pain and tenderness of the wound. Then I want you to take some potions before I start to do any spells." Harry did as told but was reluctant to take the potions until Snape began to tell him what they were. "This one is a calming potion. These are pain relievers. Now, will you show me your wrists please Harry?" Since the calming potion had done its job, he didn't worry about being scared of the man as he held his arms out for inspection. Resting his head backwards on Draco's shoulder Harry felt his robe sleeves being rolled up carefully, baring his previously well kept secrets to yet another person. "Why do this to yourself little one?" Severus asked quietly while cleaning the fresh cuts, not expecting and answer, Harry smiled slightly at the nickname before responding.

"It helps me to relax when everything get to be too much."

"What do you mean?"

"Pain was the only constant in my life, it is the only thing that I have always known so when things happen that are unknown to me, this helps bring me back to reality."

"It shouldn't be that way you know Harry." The teen just shrugged in response to the other teen's statement.

"But that's the way it was."

"He is right Harry, you shouldn't have had been in pain for so long, especially because of your own family."

"Tell Draco that then."

"Believe me, we will all be having some serious chats in the future and you will both be telling me everything." Once his wrists had been cleaned and healed Harry looked remorsefully at the lack of red cuts before closing his eyes to block out what was happening.

"What happened to your ribs?" Draco asked as Severus began to set them in the correct positions, earning a sharp hiss as the pain wasn't stopped by the potions he had taken before.

"Can't tell."

"Why not?"

"Inquisitorial Squad," Harry whispered while jerking his head back towards the blonde teenager. "Teacher," he stated while gesturing to Snape.

"Neither of us is going to say anything to anyone."

"Still not saying, can't betray it or I activate the jinx."

"Just tell us, was it on purpose that someone hurt you, or by accident?"

"It was an accident, a good one mind. I was impressed."

"You were impressed that someone managed to break 3 of your ribs? I'm amazed you were able to move around, when did it happen?"

"I was impressed they managed to cast the spell they did, let alone with the amount of power to throw me across the room. As for when, I don't know exactly, 5 or 6 days ago, I was waiting for the next quidditch practise to feign an accident to explain to Madam Pomfrey. It's not the worst I've ever had, normally Vernon would puncture a lung when he broke ribs."

"Oh little one. I'm sorry I didn't protect you sooner."

"I don't expect you to when you haven't even protected your own godson since he was what 3? 4?"

"2, but don't blame Sev. I never let him see what my parents inflicted on me and nor did they. It isn't his fault, no matter how much he will undoubtedly blame himself. I know that he would do anything to protect me so don't throw it back at him that I didn't let him know there was something wrong. He'd protect you too." The room lapsed into silence as everyone thought over these words. All knowing that on some level the words were true.

"Harry, you do not have to but I'd appreciate it if you would take off your robes and shirt so I can see how the wounds on your back are healing, as well as the knife wounds on your stomach that are from roughly the last time you saw your 'family'?"

"No touching, and no standing within reach of me?"

"Agreed."

"O-okay then."

"You really don't have to do this Harry. I swear it's okay. I have no reason to believe that they aren't healed fine but you seem to have a higher than usual pain tolerance and a lack of trust in adults to ask for help when you need it."

"I'm sorry."

"I'm not asking for an apology little one."

"What's with calling me that?"

"I do not know really. You and Draco both seem too young to have been through what it seems you both have. I'll stop if you like."

"No, I- I don't mind. I kinda like it."

"Very well, but I meant what I said, you don't have to show me if you don't want to."

"It's okay, honest, just both of you stick to what I said. Please?"

"Of course Harry."

"No objections from me." The three males all stood and Harry stayed in the protected corner while the others took a couple of steps back until they were far enough away, signalled by the opening of buttons on Harry's shirt. The white material held closed by two hands as he turned to face the corner to show his back first. He was just fine when he could hear them but as soon as he removed his shirt the entire room went deathly quiet. Slowly the silence filled with quickening breaths as the youngest began to hyperventilate with the lack of knowledge over the other two's actions.

"Harry?" In his panic he didn't think about whose voice it was, that he was safe, rather he just heard the sound of someone moving closer and instantly threw up his defences. He span around in time to see Draco fall to the floor. He quickly moved next to Draco's body and sank to his knees next to him.

"I didn't mean to. Oh gods, I didn't mean to."

"What did you do to him Harry?" The boy gave a surprised whimper as he was reminded that he wasn't the only one in the room with Draco.

"I heard him move closer while I was vulnerable. I'm sorry. I didn't mean to. Please don't hurt me, I'm so sorry."

"Shh little one. I'm not going to hurt you, I just need to know what you did."

"It's- it's- it's just a small stunning spell, should only knock a person out for a minute or two. I- I really didn't mean it sir, truly. I'm sorry Malfoy."

"Hey, breathe child. Come here." Harry looked up at him fearfully and tensed his body as he stood and moved to the other side of Draco. He avoided catching the other's eyes as he stared at the stone floor with his body held firm, preparing for any blow sent his way. What he was not prepared for though, was arms wrapping around him and pulling him into a hug. He stayed tensed for a few seconds before giving in to the feeling of comfort, however prompt it would be, and relaxed in the arms of his professor and tentatively returned the hug.

"I didn't mean to hurt him sir, I swear. I- there is even a cushioning charm erected under anyone I stun this way so they don't get hurt when they fall. Not everyone means harm, I know that, I just never know who I can trust."

"It's okay little one. He's already coming around, see?" Harry did indeed separate himself from the other to look down at Draco's form. Upon noticing that he truly was waking up he stood there and simply watched him do so, the moment that the grey eyes opened Harry laughed with relief and launched himself down on to the floor and into Draco.

"Remind me not to come near you in future when you tell me not to."

"I'm really sorry Draco. I didn't mean to hurt you." He began a repetitive chant of apologies as he cried into Draco's chest, still expecting a punishment for what he did.

"You didn't hurt me at all, promise. These 'remedial potions' lessons are quite exciting aren't they." Draco considered himself as being successful when he felt, more than heard, the gentle laughter coming from his chest prompting him to smile in turn. "Now, as exciting as they are, I would quite like to sit up if I may."

"I'm so-"

"If you say you're sorry, I will have to stop you, I think tickling is the appropriate punishment for excessive apologising." Harry went to stand but once he had sat up Draco pulled him back into his lap and held him there. Snape had looked at Harry's scars to see the they had all healed well while he was busy worrying about Draco so he picked up the boy's shirt and held it out to the smaller teen. Harry flushed slightly as he gratefully accepted his top, having forgotten in his panic that he was no longer wearing it.

"Oh, umm, thanks." The shirt was quickly accepted and donned. Buttons were done up and the teen relaxed more as he felt less vulnerable once covered up.

"Now, it's late, I want you both to go to bed, but be here tomorrow morning at 10:30 to talk about all of this. If anyone asks, detention. Harry, I best walk you back to the tower, Umbridge is patrolling tonight, wouldn't want you to get into any more trouble with her now, would we?"

"Yes sir," was the only response given by either boy as the three of them walked out of the man's chambers together. They bid Draco a goodnight, and vice versa, when they got to the point that they would have to split off for Draco to return to the dorm and Severus to take Harry back to the tower. As they were walking, Severus struck up a quiet conversation with the teen, a prelude of what was to come the next day, you might say.

"Harry, child, I know that you don't really trust adults that much, and from what I have been able to gather you have cause to be apprehensive around some, but you can trust me. If you ever need to talk about something that is bothering you, or if you get injured again, or after any future detentions with Umbridge, you can come to me. I will listen to whatever you want or need to talk about and I will do all in my power to help you. Got it?"

"I understand," whispered Harry while nodding his head slowly.

"How often do you hurt yourself on purpose little one?"

"Mo-most nights, I guess."

"I know I can't ask you to stop outright, but please try to stop."

"I- I will try."

"That's all I want. Thank you. We're here now so this is where I leave you Harry. Goodnight, and don't forget your detention in the morning Potter."

"Goodnight sir. Thank you for your help, sorry I freaked out on you." Severus nodded in acknowledgment of his words before turning and walking back down to the dungeons slowly. Harry walked past the portrait and straight up to bed, falling asleep as soon as his head hit the pillow without even managing to get out of his robes and school clothes for the day.

A couple of hours later Harry woke up with a heavy sob, glad that he no longer took down his silencing charm so he didn't wake up any of his dorm mates. He had wanted to try and stop for the man but the need was too strong. The memories that Draco saw having been dragged to the surface meant that Harry's dreams were filled more with his walrus of an uncle, and the more severe punishments that he would hand out. He reached a hand down between the mattress and the bed frame to pull out the silver knife that he had kept stored away there, safe from prying eyes, and drew his curtains as he had previously forgotten to do so in his exhaustion.

After 4 fairly deep, but not worryingly so, cuts Harry returned the knife to its hiding place, waited until the bleeding stopped, and walked down to the common room. It wasn't even 2am but he knew that it would be unlikely that he would return to sleep that night so instead he sat on the burgundy sofa watching the dying flames dance in the fireplace before starting work on his potions essay by the light of the embers. 4 hours later the early risers began to filter down into the common room and Harry took that as his cue to go down to the Great Hall for breakfast.

It was rare to see the potions master eating anything at breakfast but that is just because he goes down so early to eat in relative peace so by the time that everyone else turns up, his breakfast is gone. That morning there was the same few students as always but this time there was one person who stood out amongst the rest. A gaunt looking teen who sat head in hands, as if he was having to physically hold his head up, and sunken eyes revealing the obvious lack of sleep from the night before. The thought of which caused a spark of curiousity in Severus as the boy was back in his dormitory just before midnight so that would have given him plenty of time to sleep and be well rested before their talk that morning.

It seemed that not even the appearance of the rest of the Gryffindor trio was enough to break the teen out of his stupor and wake up fully. Draco arrived not long after Ron and Hermione and immediately drew the same conclusions that his godfather had done.

"Harry, you look like you didn't get any sleep last night."

"I got a couple of hours 'mione. Snape gave me a detention last night for most, if not all, of today. I stayed up to do my assignments." Harry didn't want to tell the two about the nightmares because then he would have a whole lot more explaining to do but what he said wasn't a lie, just misdirection.

"I'm glad you're focused on school now Harry but you look positively sickly, you need to look after yourself as well."

"I'm just tired 'mione. I plan on collapsing into bed just as soon as Snape ends my detention today, I'll be fine."

"Harry-"

"Leave the poor chap alone 'mione. He said he's fine." Hermione pouted at the two but let Harry off all the same. Once they all finished breakfast it was decided that they would make the most of the warm spring day by going down to the lake. The three led out on the grass and Harry promptly fell asleep while the other two talked to one another, until Hermione woke him up an hour later to tell him that he should start the trek down to the dungeons. A quick thank you and goodbye to the two of them signalled Harry's departure as he began the journey back to the castle before walking down to the potion master's office. The extra hour sleep had helped a lot so when Harry knocked on the door he was looking, and feeling, a great deal better, something that was picked up on by Severus who felt relieved as he noticed this fact.

"You're a bit early Harry, come on in. Just waiting for Draco to arrive. I never asked, if we discuss everything that is going on with you at home, and school, do you mind if Draco hears?" Harry shrugged his shoulders.

"He'll probably be more likely to make me tell you about stuff that I wouldn't do otherwise."

"But do you mind it Harry?"

"No- no I suppose not."

"You don't sound overly sure little one."

"Pardon me sir, but this time yesterday you both hated every bone in my body, sorry if I seem somewhat apprehensive about telling you everything about me."

"Harry you can trust me."

"And pardon me sir if I don't know whether I can truly believe that."

"It's not your fault Harry. I guess I expected that. So Draco can stay?"

"He can stay."

"You know that I will ask him the same question and he may not feel the same way about you knowing."

"I realise that sir, I'm not stupid, but he is well within his rights to ask me to leave." Before Snape had a chance to reply there was another knock at the door and Snape moved to let Draco come into the room. After posing the same question to Draco, the three of them all moved from his office into the man's private chambers, the two teens taking a seat on the sofa while the man sat in the armchair opposite.

"Right, who's going to start talking first?" Draco looked over at Harry who was staring straight ahead, the nervousness rolling off of him like waves in the ocean, he looked back to the man and spoke.

"I will, what do you want to know?"

"When did it all start?"

"Mother started smacking me when I was 2, but that isn't exactly newsworthy for a mother to smack her child. Father started hexing me when I was 5. First cruiciatus when I was 7."

"7?!"

"I was playing with the house elves. Father caught me."

"How many times?"

"For what? I couldn't tell you the number of times for hitting or hexing. The cruiciatus curse around once a year so 8/9 times."

"How long were you under for?"

"The longest time was around 2 minutes, can't say I was overly focused on counting the seconds. I'd just told father that I didn't- didn't want-"

"Didn't want what Draco?"

"That I didn't want to take the Dark Mark. I didn't want to be a Death Eater like him, and, well, you."

"Neither of you must ever, and I mean EVER, repeat what I am about to tell you or my life will be threatened. I am a spy for the light Draco, I took the Mark but within a couple of months he killed my best friend, Lily Potter nee Evans, and I came to Dumbledore seeking redemption. He spoke in my favour and allowed me to work here on the basis that I report everything that is said during the meetings called by the Dark Lord. That is not a lifestyle I would wish on anyone but I do not want you to believe that I think any less of you for not agreeing with your father's view on the world. Got it?" Draco nodded to show that he understood while Harry was still sat tensely watching the other two. When the man's gaze switched over to Harry the teen began to absentmindedly scratch his wrists over his shirt, drawing the obsidian gaze to his arm.

"First off Harry, wrists." Harry realised what he was doing and immediately stopped, tucking his hands together into his lap.

"What about them sir?"

"Let me heal them please."

"I- I don't know what-"

"You don't need to hide it from me little one. I already know, I just want to help you, to heal you. Please?" Harry didn't make any move to do anything so instead Draco made the move, reaching across the sofa to place a comforting hand on Harry's upper arm, making the other teen slowly look over at him.

"Hey Harry, you okay?" The teen nodded. "Good, I'm glad. Can you please do as Sev asks, we just want to help?" Harry chewed on the inside of his lip while he held out his arm to the man. "And you can stop that as well," Draco stated quietly while using his thumb to remove the lip from between Harry's teeth.

"Thank you Harry." Severus whispered as he reached across the coffee table that separated them and gripped his hand gently. Slowly he pulled back the sleeve on Harry's top to reveal the four harsh lines that marred his wrist. Harry heard Draco hiss slightly as the wounds were shown and the deep intake of breath that the potion master took and held. He watched as the cuts were cleaned and the edges of the flesh steadily knitted back together. "Why did you do this little one? They are deeper than before."

"Couldn't sleep."

"Why not?"

"Nightmare."

"What about?"

"Uncle Vernon." The Slytherin's could see that this wasn't going to get anywhere so they silently agreed on changing approach and letting Draco take over.

"Was it to do with what I saw in your memories yesterday?"

"Yes."

"The dog?" Harry shook his head. "The buckle?" Another shake. "The-" Draco looked over at his godfather with trepidation in his eyes. "The last one?" Harry nodded, all emotions closed off behind the steel wall he had erected to protect himself. "Okay, is it always because of that or was it because I dragged up that memory last night?" Harry didn't answer so instead Draco figured that he would only get answers that Harry would give non-verbally causing him to break the question into two parts so he could gain a yes or no answer. "Can you tell Sev about it?" Harry shook his head rapidly, finally managing to break himself, at least partway, out of his stupor. "Why not?"

"You- you already know how dis- disgusting I am. Can't let another person know," Harry whispered but not so quietly that the older man couldn't hear what was being said. The words making him fear the worst while praying that he was wrong.

"You aren't disgusting Harry. Please? What about if one of us shows him in the pensieve that Sev has, you can put a memory into the bowl and it allows others to see it?"

"O-okay then."

"Bring the memory to the front of your mind and I'll catch it with my wand for you, okay?" Harry nodded and thought as hard as he could about what Draco saw only this time he let each of the memories play out in full so that he could see all of the different things that the Dursleys' would do to him, if he were able to stomach watching it fully. Once Draco had pulled away the silvery thoughts from his mind and placed them in the pensieve that Snape had moved to the coffee table, he sat back in his seat and held a comforting hand out to Harry.

"Do you wish to go in with me Harry? It will be like you are standing to the side of yourself, watching it but you will not be able interact with anything at all."

"No thanks, I've lived it once, I don't need to watch myself living through it as well."

" Very well." Harry watched at the man dunked his hand into the bowl of liquid in alarm, half expecting him to emerge for air and half worried he would drown.

"Umm- Malfoy?"

"He'll be fine Harry. Promise, it's just like magic you might say. What about you though? He's right, those were a lot deeper than the ones I saw yesterday."

"I'm fine Draco, it's not like I lost too much blood or anything."

"Not this time," whispered Draco, "but you might in the future if you carry on like this." Harry cautiously moved neared to the blonde teen before wrapping his arms around him tightly, pulling him closer.

"I won't Drake."

"You don't know that though. You've been through so much, some of which was me, I don't want to lose you now that I have a chance to change that. To treat you better, to get to know you, to be your friend." Harry could feel the wet patch form on his shirt as the other cried softly into his chest.

"You've always been my friend in a way, just one of those where you take the mickey out of one another in public and constantly fight, but I have never hated you, not truly, just what I thought you stood for. I'm going to try and stop, I promise, it's just that there isn't really anyone I can talk to in the dorm and it all grew to be too much last night with the memories that slipped past my defences. That's the thing, Snape has always seen me as being dreadful at mind magics, but he never caught on to anything of my home life. I don't trust adults. You weren't a threat to me in the same way so I wasn't as defensive. You are still a child, you managed to break through the barriers I had built around those memories because I don't have to defend that part of me from anyone who isn't an adult. I swear I will try and stop this but it's just hard," Harry said quietly into the blonde hair.

"You can talk to me when you want to."

"I don't know if you've realised this but you aren't in my dorm Draco."

"No, we can figure that part out, but in the meantime, there are ways to link mirrors, you can buy pairs of journals so whatever you write will show up in mine, and vice versa. There are ways Harry, if you want to that is."

"Thanks Draco, I- I'd like that. As long as, well, you know, as long as you're sure it isn't too much trouble. I don't want to bother you at all."

"Nonsense. We can ask Sev when he re-emerges to see if he could go to Diagon or somewhere and pick us up the journals, they would probably be a lot easier to communicate through."

"If you sure."

"I'm sure, alright? I wouldn't offer otherwise. I haven't exactly been the best of friends in the past, now's my chance to redeem myself as it were." The boys lapsed into silence and less than a minute later Severus emerged from the memories and looked at Harry with tears in his eyes.

"I failed you so badly little one, little ones, I should have protected you better. The both of you. I should have seen the signs and protected the two of you, taken you away from the people who were hurting you. I'm truly sorry for that, to the both of you."

"It's fine Uncle Sev." Harry didn't respond verbally but stood up and walked over to the man, standing in front of him for a couple of seconds before kneeling down and tentatively wrapping his arms around the potions master. He tensed slightly when the hug was returned but relaxed a bit soon enough.

"You didn't know, about Draco or me. You couldn't have helped, any earlier. You found out last night and you have helped us since then. You have nothing to apologise for." As soon as Harry began to feel uncomfortable he pulled away and walked back to the sofa, pulling his legs up onto the seat and holding his knees close to his chest while his chin rested upon them.

"Thank you both, you seem to ignore the misdeeds that I have done to each of you however."

"Right, similar questions as Draco to begin with Harry. How old were you?"

"For which part?"

"All of it." Harry looked blankly at the man, closing off all his emotions to cope with the discussion they were about to have. "Fine, the starving?"

"They gave me milk and everything as a baby, so it was just once I went onto proper food, I don't know exactly though."

"The event with the dog?"

"8."

"The beatings?"

"2 and a half, first broken bone at 3."

"The- the rape?"

"When I got my first Hogwarts letter, before that he just made me do things to him."

"Why?"

"You'd have to ask him that sir, although I'd assume it has something to do with me being a disgusting freak who isn't worth the food they give me or the air I breathe."

"That's not true Harry."

"Just telling you the reasons he gave me sir, the ones he would tell me each time I sobbed and begged to know why they treated me like they did."

"Why didn't you ever tell anyone?"

"What makes you think that I didn't?"

"You're still there, that's why."

"I told a teacher at primary school but social services found nothing wrong during their inspection of the Dursley's so I was branded as an attention seeker and I never tried again. A couple of years later there was a substitute teacher who noticed something was not right but they were just told about the previous investigation and to ignore it. In our first year here I asked Dumbledore if I really had to go back for the summer holidays and told him of some of what I went through there but he told me that it is safer for me to live there nonetheless because of the blood wards."

"The old coot. As if you are safer there."

"For once I feel I must agree with Draco, mostly, the way I see it 'old coot' is being far too kind in this instance."

"I'm used to it."

"But you shouldn't have to be Harry."

"What should or shouldn't be doesn't change what IS."

"Little one, Draco is once again correct. You shouldn't have to be used to it. The three of us have to come up with a plan. I will not allow either of you to be in harm's way any longer."

"What are you thinking Sev?"

"What I am thinking is that I will never officially be given custody of either of you, but neither will I let you return to your families. Harry will be easy, a simple memory charm on the muggles will ensure that they believe you to be staying with old friends should anyone enquire and I could collect you from the muggle side of King's Cross. Draco will be much harder. I cannot simply use a charm on your parents, they would be able to see through it, besides all your friends' parents are also their friends so they would know. Not to mention that this Summer you were due to take the Dark Mark by force if not choice, the Dark Lord will not forget that so easily. Our first challenge would be to get you away from the train at the end of the year, then hide you from your parents, as well as make sure that you don't get discovered and brought back to them."

"The invisibility cloak sir?"

"What?"

"Don't act coy, I know you know about my father's cloak and that I now own it."

"Well, yes, okay. That cloak. That could work for getting him away from his parents at the station, if we make sure to shrink his luggage beforehand so there isn't a trolley being pushed around by an invisible force. That just leaves the other two puzzles. I suppose we could just use the excuse that you ran away to my house if asked but that I didn't turn you over to your parents as your godfather."

"There is nothing saying that he has to go to yours."

"I'm not going to leave you or my godson alone to live on the streets Harry."

"I didn't mean that, I just mean to say that you needn't tell anyone he has gone to your house, couldn't he have just run away and- I don't know- claim he only showed up again on the day before the return to Hogwarts. You don't have to leave him on the streets but you also don't have to tell anyone that he is living with you."

"But the Dark Lord could look into my mind and see that Draco is staying with me."

"You're meant to be teaching me mind magics, doesn't that mean that you're proficient enough to create false memories, to lay a sufficient trail?"

"I don't know that I can fool the Dark Lord Harry."

"Then fool your own mind."

"We won't refer to him as Draco, then you can honestly say no when asked whether or not you have seen Draco Malfoy. Or change his looks for the duration of the stay, then you can also say truthfully that you haven't seen him, that would also help with the Voldemort thing, if he looks into your mind he won't see Draco, just another male. It doesn't have to be all of time, just enough that there are memories to present to him, to bring to the forefront of your mind so that he doesn't see what you really want to hide?"

"That could work Sev."

"Indeed, in fact that final idea seems well thought out, am I to take it that is how you managed to hide your home life so well from me."

"No- I- well- yeah, any muggle magician will teach you that magic is all about the art of misdirection. I show you what I don't mind you seeing to divert you from what I wanted you to never see. That trick didn't work so well with Draco though."

"Yes, I'm not sure how I feel about my 15-year-old godson beating me in mind magics."

"I didn't Sev, don't worry. I just had the trick up my sleeve of being the same age and not an adult."

"It's all about trust in my mind, that's how I organise my thoughts. What can be known by people with varying levels of trust. Draco, is my age but my supposed enemy, he is more trusted than adults but not trusted enough to see certain things that could be used against me or others at Hogwarts. You, however, are an adult, you are not trusted with that but I can misled you with memories of my parents and events that happened at school and who I've kissed because you know all of the things that have happened throughout the years, you know more about my parents than I do, and you wouldn't reveal who I've kissed just to spite me or them in front of others, then you'd have to explain how you know. You see sir, it is a good way of organising your mind. Most dismiss you as being awful as occumency so it lulls them into the sense that you have nothing to hide, if they find nothing they know that you are trying to hide something from them."

"You are just a little TOO Slytherin for a lion, Harry."

"Thanks Draco, but I suppose that is my last secret from the two of you. The sorting hat wanted to put me in Slytherin but I asked for anything else. There, between the two of you, you now know essentially everything about me, even things that no one else does."

"You were going to be one of my snakes? Why did you ask for a different house?"

"Because I'd met Draco, no offense, and the only things I'd heard about any of the houses was that Hufflepuff is full of 'duffers' and Slytherin is Voldemort's house so everyone in it is pure evil."

"Because of me?"

"You insulted the only person I knew in the wizarding word the first time we met, and the second time you insulted the first friend I had made. Don't worry, I don't hate you for it. I wouldn't have known Hermione wasn't going back to the common room in first year so the troll would have killed her, she'd be dead. Which would mean that she wouldn't have figured out the mystery of the chamber and that the basilisk was using the pipes to travel so Ginny and I would likely be dead as I wouldn't have known what I was going to face. If I survived that I wouldn't have had Hermione in third year with the time turner so once again I would be dead, along with Sirius, at the lakeside with the hundreds of dementors. If I had lived through the night before that anyway, seeing as how it was Hermione who thought to pretend to be a werewolf, which saved mine, her's, Sirius' again and Ron's life as well as Severus'. Do I need to continue?"

"So Hermione has saved a lot of people not even counting anything she might have done last year? Yet, you take the credit."

"Hey, I don't want this life, given a choice I would have my parents back or I would have had myself die with them. I tell people that the things I have done are because of luck, or because I had help, it is rare that anything I do is a result of anything different."

"I was just kidding, sorry."

"It's alright Draco, I just don't understand why on earth people say they want to be me. My life isn't exactly sunshine and rainbows but death and pain."

"Not any more little one. Not for either of you."


End file.
